Good morning and happy Friday.
President Joe Biden called on Congress to ban assault weapons or to raise the age to be able to buy one from 18 to 21 in an address Thursday night. The president also called for a ban on high-capacity magazines, background checks, red flag laws and a repeal of the immunity that protects gun manufacturers from legal liability if their weapons are used in violence. The Associated Press reports private discussions in the Senate, which is split 50-50 between Democrats and Republicans, are not expected to produce the kinds of sweeping reforms being considered by the Democratic-led House — which has approved expansive background checks legislation and will next turn to an assault weapons ban. But even a House package debated Thursday that is less sweeping but includes a provision raising the required age for buying semi-automatic firearms to 21, faces slim chances in the Senate.
At least one Minnesota Republican doesn’t like what the House Democratic majority is doing on guns. Rep. Michelle Fischbach from the state’s 7th District put out this statement after a bill moved through the Judiciary Committee on a party-line vote : "This hastily put together markup was nothing more than a publicity stunt for Democrats to try to capitalize on a national tragedy. The reality is they know this bill will not effectively stop mass shootings and they know these unconstitutional provisions will go nowhere in the Senate," Fishbach said. "This markup was not about keeping kids and communities safe from violent criminals. It was about furthering a blanket anti-gun agenda. This was evident when they voted against an amendment that would provide funding for more school resource officers to protect children. Democrats also voted against amendments to ensure that people engaging in gun crimes are prosecuted under existing law. There are steps we can take to protect people from the actions of evil people, and they can be taken without stripping the rights of law-abiding gun owners."
Gov. Tim Walz said he will meet with top legislative leaders today to discuss the possibility of a special session. Walz wants lawmakers to finish work on the tax and spending measures that were left unresolved when the clock ran out on the 2022 regular session. MPR News' Tim Pugmire reports the DFL governor said Thursday that he wants to stick to the framework that was agreed to last month. “I think we’re on the one-yard line. Sounds like they want to take a knee,” Walz said of Republicans. “I do not want to take a knee. Just finish this thing. Get ‘er done.” Walz made his comments after an event highlighting the veterans bill that passed last month. He said that measure was an example of lawmakers coming together to find common ground. Program note: I’ll talk about the situation at the Capitol with a panel of political reporters today at noon on the radio at MPR News.
A new law will put more than $90 million into mental health services for children and adults. Brian Bakst reports Walz signed a bill Thursday that was approved in the final hours of the Legislature’s session. It’s designed to fill gaps in mental health treatment as well as implement new protocols for dealing with people deemed incompetent to stand trial. The bill passed with broad bipartisan support. Some of the money will go toward providing additional bed capacity for crisis treatment at hospitals. There will be about $10 million to expand mobile mental health services. To deal with a shortage of trained professionals and providers, there is money for education grants and loan forgiveness. Walz said the changes are good steps to making mental health treatment more widely available, but he urged lawmakers not to stop there.
Republican Matt Benda withdrew from the 1st District Congressional race Thursday after filing to run earlier in the week. “There were unprecedented federal election commission details that needed to be resolved prior to me formally withdrawing from this race, Benda said in a statement. “I spent the past two days working with my compliance and legal team to resolve these issues. I was in contact with Brad Finstad and his team throughout this process and want to thank him for handling this matter professionally. I attended last week’s 1st District Republican endorsing convention and joined with other Republicans in endorsing Finstad in his run to fill this important seat. He has my full support.”
There were questions this week about why Benda and Jeremy Munson filed to run for the Congressional seat after losing last week’s GOP primary to Finstad.This piece from MinnPost may have part of the answer: It’s also possible that one factor in Munson’s decision to run in the general election had less to do with winning and more to do with campaign finance rules. Under federal election law, the candidates were allowed to receive contributions of up to $2,900 per individual for the primary. But unless they continue to be candidates for the office, they would have to return all contributions they received that were intended for the general election. | 